Oh, Guard! Bulls Stop Bucks Here

Milwaukee Bucks coach Del Harris, an ordained minister, is a man of God.

But Tuesday night in the Stadium, he was a man without guards who couldn`t cope with the man the Bulls call a god.

That was Michael Jordan, who scored a game-high 43 points for the Bulls, who maintained a 10-point lead through most of the fourth quarter and cruised to a 106-96 victory, their 10th in the last 11 meetings with the Bucks.

``Maybe it means meat is better than cheese as a protein,`` offered Bulls coach Phil Jackson.

Jordan turned out to be all the vitamin the Bulls would need, despite 38 points by Milwaukee`s Ricky Pierce.

Jordan scored early and often, picking up 23 in the first half as the Bucks were without guards Jay Humphries and Paul Pressey.

``It`s tough to lose two players at one position,`` said Jackson.

``Losing two point guards is very important.``

That more than offset the absence again of center Bill Cartwright and of forward Horace Grant, who left at halftime with a shoulder injury.

Bucks center Jack Sikma also missed the game.

No, wait!

Sikma just missed everything, playing 25 minutes and fouling out without scoring a point, although his Harris said Sikma is suffering from a back injury and will need another pain-killing shot this week.

The Bucks also got zero points from starting guard Jeff Grayer, normally a forward, and 0-for-6 shooting from newly acquired Jerry Sichting, giving the Bucks three players who combined to shoot 0 for 13.

``It was a tough game,`` said Harris. ``It`s difficult playing without your point guards. It`s like playing a football game without your

quarterback.``

But the Bulls had theirs in Jordan, who also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists, while Craig Hodges and Stacey King combined for 27 points off the bench. ``Our bench really helped us tonight,`` said Jordan. ``And I came out getting my shot and felt in rhythm.``

Which resulted in a dirge for the Bucks, who fell to 32-24.

The victory was the Bulls` sixth straight, their longest streak of the season, and raised their record to 35-20, including a league-best 22-2 at home.

The Bucks` loss was their second straight to the Bulls this season and first in five games over all: They had won four in a row after losing to the Bulls in Milwaukee two weeks ago.

This Lake Michigan rivalry, for much of the first quarter, was reminiscent of the lake at low tide: It stunk.

Both teams combined for 24 points in the first quarter, 12 each, as the Bucks missed 8 of their first 10 field-goal attempts and the Bulls missed 6 of their first 7.

Fortunately for the Bulls, Jordan decided to look for his offense early as all around him appeared to be crumbling.

After the Bucks tied the score at 12 on a Pierce three-point field goal (he had eight points in each of the first two quarters), Jordan converted five straight free throws, four after driving attempts at the basket and the fifth after a technical foul on Harris.

That got the Bulls out to a 17-12 lead, and they went into the second quarter ahead 26-20.

That`s when a surge of bench scoring sent the Bulls out to a 41-27 lead. Hodges hit his second three-point field goal of the game plus a jumper and a drive, and Charles Davis scored his first basket in the last 14 games, 10 of which he didn`t even play in.

The Bulls surged ahead again. Jordan, with 23 in the first half, drove twice and was fouled, picking up four free throws. He then hit a driving reverse layup and jumper, after which Scottie Pippen slammed in a Jordan miss for a 53-44 Bulls lead.

But after Pippen tipped in a Will Perdue miss to make it 56-46, Milwaukee scored six of the last seven points of the quarter to trail 57-52 at the half.

The Bucks missed 9 of their first 10 attempts to allow the Bulls to take a 65-54 lead 4 minutes into the second half.

But the Bucks turned to Pierce and Anderson, who combined for their next 12 points to bring Milwaukee within 69-66 with 4:13 left in the third quarter.

Jordan and King then hit three baskets each to offset 12 Pierce third-quarter points, and the Bulls went into the fourth quarter leading 81-73.